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Recipe: 4 German Christmas Cookies

Griseldis (dark short pastry)

Ingredients for the Cookie Dough:

200 g soft butter
130 g (a little bit less than 2/3 cup) granulated cane sugar
1 package vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoons „Kirschwasser“ (a German kirsch/cherry schnapps)
300 g (2 ½ cups) flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

Other Ingredients:

Apricot preserves (or other kind of preserves)
Dark chocolate glaze

Instructions:

Mix all the liquid ingredients together and beat them until fluffy.  Then add the flour, the baking powder and the cocoa.  Mix well all the ingredients for the dough and let rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Once the dough isn’t that soft anymore, roll out the dough and cut the cookies (must be an even number of cookies with same shapes).

Bake them at 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit) for about 10-15 minutes.  Allow everything to cool down. Warm up the apricot preserves.  Afterwards spread the apricot preserves in between two cookies of the same shape. Melt the chocolate glaze in water bath and spread the chocolate glaze on top of the two cookies.


Nussecken (Nut Triangles)

Ingredients for the Cookie Dough:

65g (a little bit less than 1/3 cup) soft butter
65g ( a little bit less than 1/3 cup) granulated cane sugar
1 package vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 egg
150g (1 ¼ cups) flour
½ teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients for the Topping:

3 tablespoons apricot preserves
100g (a little bit less than ½ cup) butter
100g (a little bit less than ½ cup) granulated cane sugar
1 package vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
2 tablespoons water
100g (a little bit less than 1 cup) ground hazelnuts
100g (a little bit less than 1 cup) sliced almonds

Other Ingredients:

Dark chocolate glaze

Instructions:

First prepare the dough: Mix the butter, the sugar and the egg together and beat them until fluffy. Then add the flour and the baking powder. Mix well all the ingredients for the dough and let rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Once the dough isn’t that soft anymore, roll out the dough and put it onto a greased baking tray.

Now prepare your topping: Warm up the apricot preserves and spread the warm apricot preserves onto the dough using a spatula. Melt the butter, the sugar and the water in a pot. Add hazelnuts and almonds promptly. Spread the mixture as a last layer on the apricot preserves coat.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes at 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit). Be careful, as the cookie turns dark quickly. Allow everything to cool down and cut in triangles. Melt the chocolate glaze in water bath and brush two of the triangle corners of one cookie with chocolate.


Schokoladenbrot (German chocolate bread)

Ingredients for the Cookie Dough:

250 g (1 1/8 cups) soft butter
250 g (1 1/8 cups) granulated cane sugar
6 eggs
250 g (9 ounces) grated dark chocolate
250 g (2 1/8 cups) ground almonds
100 g (1/2 + 1/3 cup) flour

Other Ingredients:

Dark chocolate glaze

Instructions:

Mix all the liquid ingredients together and beat them until fluffy.  Then add the chocolate, the almonds and the flour.   Mix well all the ingredients for the dough and spread the soft mixture onto a greased baking tray.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit). Let everything rest. While still warm, cut with a big knife into small squares or rectangles.  Allow everything to cool down.  Melt the chocolate glaze in water bath and spread the chocolate glaze on top of the squares or rectangles.


Schwabenbrötle (Swabian cookies)

Ingredients for the Cookie Dough:

250 g (1 1/8 cups) soft butter
250 g (1 1/8 cups) granulated cane sugar
2 egg whites
250 g (2 1/8 cups) ground hazelnuts
375g (3 1/8 cups) flour
1 pinch of cinnamon

Other Ingredients:

2 beaten egg yolks

Instructions:

Mix all the liquid ingredients together and beat them until fluffy.  Then add the hazelnuts and the cinnamon.  Mix well all the ingredients for the dough and let rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Once the dough isn’t that soft anymore, roll out the dough, cut the cookies and brush them with the beaten egg yolks.

Bake them at 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit) for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown.  Allow everything to cool down and keep them in a cookie jar during the Holiday season.

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Recipe: German Apple Cake

German Apple Cake

img_3623Cake Base Ingredients:

  • 150g (2/3 cup) smooth unsalted butter
  • 125g (a little bit more than ½ cup) sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 250g (2 1/8 cups) flour

Cake Topping Ingredients:

  • img_36144-5 apples
  • 30g (1/8 cup) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1-2 tablespoons rum

Cake Crumble Ingredients:

  • 125g (a little bit more than ½ cup) smooth unsalted butter
  • 125g (a little bit more than ½ cup) sugar
  • 175g (a little bit less than 1 ½ cups) flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

img_3616Cake Base Instructions:

  1. Blend the butter and the sugar until foamy (the sugar must dissolve completely). Then stir in the egg and afterwards the flour.
  2. Put the mass in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
  3. After the mass is cool and not that soft anymore, cover the base and the sides of a buttered cake dish with it.

img_3600Cake Topping Instructions:

  1. Clean the apples with the Ha-Ra Viva Mini Cloth to remove preservative waxes. Roughly chop the apples and cook them with the sugar and the cinnamon at medium heat until the apples start to get softer, but don’t fall apart. Add the rum.
  2. Set cake topping aside and let it cool down.
  3. Pour the mass on the cake base.

img_3631Cake Crumble Instructions:

  1. Mix the butter with the sugar. Then stir in the flour and add cinnamon.
  2. Spread the crumbles over the cake topping.
  3. Place the cake in the center of the oven and bake at 220 degrees Celsius (425 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30-35 minutes until the top is golden-brown.

Note: We like the apple cake when it is still warm together with some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream! 🙂